Keywords: JUSTIFICATION, FAITH, WORKS.
In the Accursed Gospels, JUSTIFICATION and FAITH are either REDEFINED or DENIED.
The Truth concerning these words:
Justification by Faith Apart from Works:
Justification is the declaration of GOD’S righteousness (not ours.). It is the declaration that GOD is just in dealing with those who believe in Jesus – APART from the law, and apart from the works of the law. He is free and righteous to exercise His great mercy and love and bring us into His family, making us sons and heirs together with Christ even though we are ungodly sinners!
Justification answers Devil’s accusation: “How can God be just and reconcile sinners to Himself?” (Satan is a Moralist!)
“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:21-26
“to him that works NOT but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted to Him as righteousness” (Rom 4:5).
Since the Accursed Gospels thrive by redefining words, it is also important to understand that Justification which is given to us as GIFT not only secures our eternal Destiny “in heaven,” but our position before God NOW:
“Romans 5:1-5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.. And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Because of Justification, we have peace with God, and we are standing in grace. We have access to that grace, and our position is one of rejoicing. This is because we have been given the Spirit, who is called the “blessing of the Gospel” in Galatians 3:14. Justification secures God Himself, which is why we are presently said to be “accepted in the Beloved” and “blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly in Christ” (Eph 1:6,3).
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Now let’s briefly look at the 3 types of Accursed Gospels we Encounter, which involve the denial or redefinition of words.
Frontloaded Works Gospel:
DENIAL of JUSTIFICATION.
EASY TO SPOT:
Insists that Eternal Life can only be obtained by WORKS. Fairly easy to spot. All world religions believe this. “Christian” examples would be Hebrew Roots that deny Paul’s ministry, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormons, and Arminians (along the lines of Finney).
Believing the Gospel does not save. You can lose your salvation. Eternal Life is not Eternal. Law-keeping and moral reform is pre-requisite to being saved. No pretense that the door is even open to Life through FAIT
Backloaded WORKS Gospel:
REDEFINES the word FAITH
MUCH MORE SUBTLE.
It pretends to be “By grace through FAITH”. Pretends to get you “in the door” through FAITH, but you discover that FAITH has been redefined and is actually WORKS. Ultimately, you cannot know if you have believed. Usually, it comes down to the Calvinist false “head / heart” distinction – you can’t just “mentally assent” to facts with your mind; you have to “believe with your heart”.
There is a minimization of the power of the Gospel, which saves in favor of an inward “transforming experience” that is undefined and can only be known by its eventual “fruit.” Ultimately there can be no assurance of salvation. LAW is the measuring stick for fruit. LAW is the measuring stick as to whether I have “REALLY” believed.
Primary formal examples are Calvinism and Catholicism (both get their doctrine from Augustine). Calvinism seduced many because it used Paul’s language to present Eternal security to them. There are many thousands of these that are harassed in the reformed churches where they thought they would find rest. They are saved! They do believe in the Gospel. But they are discovering to their dismay, that they still have no assurance because they are still under the law, and measuring whether they really “believed” by law. This is because the word Faith is redefined.
Galatian Error:
REDEFINES the word JUSTIFICATION
This is the error that Paul wrote the book of Galatians to counter. This accursed Gospel is for ALREADY saved believers, who began in the Spirit, were running well, have been baptized into Christ and have put Him on, and are Children of God and heirs of the promise in Christ. They have been BEWITCHED through a redefinition of JUSTIFICATION
JUSTIFICATION is minimized so that it only deals with your eternal destiny. “Sure, you are going to heaven when you die because you believe in Jesus.” But Justification does not bring you God Himself now. Blessing and Favor from God are obtained through works. Having begun in the Spirit by faith, they seek to be perfected in the flesh to please God and earn His favor (Gal 3:3).
Throughout Galatians, Paul defines Justification to let us know that it includes our eternal destiny and makes us heirs of the promise, which is the Spirit, and that the ONLY way to live the Christian life is to walk in the Spirit. If we do not walk in the Spirit by faith by abiding in our position (in justification) as heirs but instead resort to law-keeping efforts by the flesh, we will become persecutors since the flesh is at war with the Spirit (Gal 4:29). This means that genuinely saved Christians will persecute people who seek to live Christ as the manifestation of the Christian life in the same manner as the Lordshippers and Calvinists – “you’re just looking for a license to sin!”
The fruit of the Spirit, (against which there is no law) is the fruit of the life of Christ in me (Gal 2:19;5:22-24). That life is lived as I see that “I through the law have died to the law that I might live unto God. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I but Christ in me. And the life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness came through the law, Christ died in vain.” There is no genuine fruit that will be born in the Christian life without this basic judgment and realization.
99% of genuinely saved Christians are “galatianized.” They know they are going to heaven when they die. But they have NOT judged their flesh or died to the law. Therefore they live under an “incoherent” mix of law and grace. Grace for “Going to heaven” but law for pleasing God today. Again, this is based on a REDEFINITION of the word Justification to exclude the Christian life! When it is taught, it is still considered to be an accursed Gospel!
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All three of the above-accursed Gospels lean heavily on James 2 for their support and use James 2 to overthrow Paul’s clear teaching. Regardless of what you conclude about James, you cannot use his writing to overthrow Paul’s doctrine, which he received from the Ascended Christ and is authoritative.
People who fully embrace frontloaded works, backloaded works, or Galatian error will accuse you of a license to sin when you speak about Christ being the reality of the Christian life. In place of Jesus Christ, they hear the words “sin, adultery, fornication, murder, theft.” (What are you saying I can just lie and steal and do whatever I want?) This is from Satan, the Moralist, and it is his accusation against God Himself. He does not believe that God is JUST in justifying sinners and giving the inheritance as a gift to the ungodly. It infuriates him. The Pharisees didn’t just “not believe in Jesus.” They HATED Him because He was the friend of sinners. They knew who He was! Satan was their father.
ALMOST all frontload and backload “gospel preachers and teachers” are unsaved (but there are acceptions and I know some who are beloved but have not been confronted with their error).
Some who teach Galatian error are “false brethren crept in unaware of spying out the liberty we have in Christ that they may bring us into bondage.”
Those who persist in any of the above three accursed Gospels and refuse to repent do so because they refuse to judge the flesh and see that it is condemned. They believe the cross was just for the “bad sins” (whether some of them or all of them, it doesn’t matter), but they cannot believe that the cross also was for their religious zeal. “Not I But Christ” is foreign to them if not offensive.
“Not I But Christ” is really the “narrow road” that leads from milk to meat and is the key to growth in the Christian life.
Pastors that teach Galatian error are BABY CHRISTIANS that got exalted because of perceived religious zeal and then FROZEN IN PLACE. People listen to them because they’re on a stage, and everyone says, “that’s the pastor.” They literally don’t know anything about the Christian life!
Truth that is rarely heard or accepted.